Gentlemen's Coalition
by Delsus
Summary: Through some strange phenomenon, Pokemon are changing. Their impulses are becoming darker; they're lashing out at their brethren. Auden has been a victim of these cruel, horrifying changes, and has lost almost everything. He lives, hoping to find answers


On the island of Wisteria was a thriving land inhabited by odd creatures that would be considered alien-like had they inhabited Earth. However, not one being that looked like us has set foot on this island, and they never will. So we all speculated...

The beings known as "humans" often use us for battle and labor though it wasn't unusual for them to work along side us. This is true. Yet the media would never say aloud whether a "Pokemon" had been mistreated or abused. Maybe it didn't happen. Maybe I'm just thinking too much. We were often called by our species name which irritated me to no end. If they saw me they'd simply name me "Gallade," because I just so happen to _be_ one. "How could you name a Geodude "Geodude"? Or a Gardevoir "Gardevoir? How would you feel about a human parent naming their child "human"?"

I shook my head. Now wasn't the time to think about these things. My _"trainer,"_ Loki, is one of the very few humans who can get on and off of this Island to provide us with materials that may be used from the humans' side. We separated ourselves because the idea of slavery sort of…pissed us off. This island is our salvation. And for the longest time, I told myself this. Before my life was ripped apart into pieces right in front of me, while I felt myself shackled to steel weights that weighed well over 5 tons. Before I stood as a tree rooted into the soil, only to see these precious memories fall slowly down to the ground and shatter before my knees.

I awoke to a heavy fog like no other, one that seemed unreal. I'd never witnessed something as odd as this in my life. I could not see my hand in front of me, so fighting panic, I lay back down on the ground and looked up. I could see the stars in the sky ever so clearly--strange, since I could not see my own hand though at the time I thought nothing of it. Most of my body hurt like hell. My legs felt like they'd carried me through a marathon and my back... _'I can actually lie on it!'_ This frightened me. Something awful had happened to me and I had no idea what. I slipped a hand behind my back and felt something kind of cold leak on the tips of my fingers, upon pulling to see what it was I knew for sure the protrusion in my back had been ripped off. I was screwed. Not only was this appendage a part of my body, bleeding like mad and giving me a world of pain, it was the source of my psychic abilities.

"Either I really pissed someone off or I'm just an unfortunate victim of the whore we call Karma. None the less, I have to get out of here. I have no idea where I am, and I could be in a lot of danger. I can't fight!" I staggered to my feet after speaking aloud to myself. It hadn't occurred to me until that moment that I had been talking to myself. Was I going crazy? I shook my head again. I had to stop thinking. I felt as if I was going into detail with every little thing, and that…that was maddening.

As I began walking--though I sensed that, to a stranger, I looked like a drunken man going nowhere fast--the fog grew thicker and became a dark black. "Black fog..." I said out loud. "What the hell is going on!?" My vision was completely gone and my eyes stung. I clamped them shut tightly waiting until my eye watered enough to clear whatever was obstructing my vision. When I opened them again, I could see a little. "How did I miss something like this?!" I stated surprised.

The whole forest was lit like a star in the blackest corner of space. The treetops burned and pieces of ember flaked off the browning/burning leaves. I didn't want to go near the forest. I just wanted to steer clear and stand on the strip of beach that I'd woken up on. It was either a burning forest, or the rough tides that were sure to get me wet and salty. But before I made the decision to wade hopelessly in the water that I was sure to drown in, I saw something familiar. Protruding out of the forest was a huge, sheer cliff. I knew for sure where I was.

I was home.

I rubbed my temples in disbelief. I wanted to say something, regardless of my solitude, or just wake up from this nightmare. But I knew that this was far from being false. _'How could I forget my own home?'_ I rubbed the back of my head and--sure enough--felt a bruise. I winced and dropped my hand again, frowning. I might've forgotten a few things, but I remembered enough to feel a sudden pain burning through my body and seemingly dripping out of my every pore. My mouth dropped open and my heart sank with an iron weight of despair, and following it was a scraping, searing, _twisting_ pain in my stomach. My throat seemed to up with a scream I so desperately wanted to let loose, but nothing came.

Even with as weak and overwhelmed as I was, I managed to put one foot in front of the other, each step taking an eternity to make, but slowly they built up from a stagger, to a walk, to a jog, and finally to a full on sprint. I jumped though the flaming bushes, stepping on a few brittle branches. Despite the embers beneath my feet, I felt nothing. My adrenaline was pumping so hard, so fast, not even ripping my limbs off in the most gruesome of ways-- tearing muscle from bone--could hurt me. I swallowed, feeling how parched my throat already was from the hot air, and lump in my throat went go down a little. Without the obstruction, my voice finally ripped free of my throat. It wasn't a full blown scream, but I damn well wanted it to be one.

"Ulaina!" I cried. "Ulaina, please!" _'Don't be dead, don't be dead,' _I repeated over and over like a broken record in my head while my cries rose in pitch until I _was_ screaming, ignoring the burning pain of my vocal chords. "AEON! ULAINA! PLEASE, ANSWER ME!"

Recklessly, I darted through the smoldering forest grounds, searching and searching until--finally!--I finally caught sight of what used to be my house. The door was cracked open and I felt a distorted, insanely hopeful smile twist my lips.

"They got out, they escaped!" I said to my self very matter-of-factly.

But as I drew closer, my stomach sank. This awful feeling had struck me, like the premonitions I could no longer get. I reached hesitantly for the knob, fighting with myself to not just turn back and run, save myself from the pain I knew was…the door had opened itself. My heart stopped in my chest, and I felt almost sure I would die right there, on the threshold of my ruined home.

Blood was smeared all over the house. On the walls, the broken and torn furniture, the floor, the _ceiling_. My eyes widened, and I saw myself as if through some one else. I looked demented, covered in smears of soot and already a few specks of blood. My pupils had dilated, almost completely swallowing up my crimson irises.

"_Fuck_!" I screamed, having stolen the curse from humans--even though I'd never used it before today. "_Why_?!"

I sprinted and stumbled through the house searching desperately for a body, at least, yet I found nothing.

Until the last room.

As soon as I pushed open the door, my legs shook and I gripped the doorframe for support. I was vaguely aware of the stifling heat and the fact that the house was falling apart around me. It was only a matter of time until the roof caved and I was buried in the rubble. But that didn't matter.

I'd bitten my lip and as soon as I'd caught sight of what was sequestered in that room. Now my fang felt as if it would completely puncture through.

My son. Aeon--my baby boy!--was in that last room.

The bluish green tinted Ralts lay lifelessly on the floor, bloody and battered. Numbly, I stepped toward him and fell to my knees at his side. My arms shook and tears streamed down my cheeks, blurring my vision, as I cradled my son's cold body.

"Aeon... It's okay Daddy's here," I said out loud, voice shaking. I refused to believe what I was seeing, what I was _feeling_. "You're not dead... You're just sleeping."

A very _long_ sleep. One I knew--and forced myself to accept--that he would never wake up from.

I was only glad he didn't have to suffer though this, not knowing where his mom was or why his father was breaking down.

Holding him close to my chest, I ran out the still-burning house. I kept him cradled in my arms and pressed his head over my heart. I wanted to give him my heart beat, my life, my everything. He was so young and had so much more to live for than me. A whole life ahead of him…

I ran around like a crazed man, looking all the while through the burning village and forest for a blue tinted Gardevoir. My wife, Ulaina. And it seemed that every time I had just about given up, Karma gave me another slap in the face.

I finally caught site of her, limp and, I knew, dead, in the talons of a wicked looking being that resembled a Blaziken. Yet something was off about it. It's typical vibrant colors were not as apparent, as if it had been saturated with a shadow like coloring, dark and…just plain evil-looking.

My muscles stiffened and I felt my blades become titanium, solid and heavy. I felt them grow bigger and I grit my teeth. It felt as if my soul was spilling from my body and being replaced with nothing but a violent rage. My vision became veiled in red and I knew my irises were glowing. My beating heart went silent.

I, vaguely, remember placing my Aeon next to what seemed at the time to be the only tree not affected by the fire.

The Blaziken turned its head and caught sight of me. Our gazes locked, and I knew this was a demon sent from my own personal brand of hell. But for several moments, it didn't move.

Then, terribly, it grinned maliciously, an insane glee dancing in its dark eyes. It tossed Ulaina on the ground like she was garbage, and I snapped. My gaze left the demon-Blaziken's and roamed over her body, and it was then that I saw the extent of her injuries. I couldn't began to imagine what she went through; her dress was torn and her exposed legs and torso were bruised.

Fueled by my hate and the knowledge that I had nothing to live for, I lunged at my prey. Wrath consuming my every cell, burning through me, like the flames burned through the trees.

But... After that... Everything is a blur.

It was only later that I found out what had really happened on that nightmarish day when Karma cut herself and bled her misfortune into my small, previously-simple life.


End file.
